Surviving junior year

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“The school year is one week away from ending.” As soon as these words left the teacher’s mouth, 10th grader Pedro Uribe’s hands started shaking and his feeling of fear became stronger. Pedro was scared of what was coming, but he still felt relieved that he had survived another school year. However, the biggest challenge was ahead: getting through junior year.

Junior year is known to be everyone’s nightmare. Especially at TCS, people tend to talk about 11th grade as if it was the hardest year of your entire life. Even though it is challenging, there are certain skills you can acquire in order to get through the school year easily. Most importantly, it is crucial to know how to balance life inside and outside of school.

Inside School

Moving on to a new year is never an easy transition. Almost always, 11th grade comes with the electing of harder classes which comes with more responsibilities. The classes get harder than last year, and also you get new subjects like philosophy that may be a challenge. The teachers are also play an important role in this: when you become a junior they become more demanding, meaning that the work you turn in needs to be a lot better than usual. But also this year comes with a lot of choice: you have the choice to modify your schedule and the classes you pick to make it personal and study what you enjoy.

“11th grade was a change of pace from 10th grade. The classes got a lot harder and also the teachers where a lot more strict. We got more work to do in class and to take home… As an elective I chose business technology because it was something i was interested in,” explained Pedro Uribe, junior at TCS.

You also get the chance to choose more AP courses that require more time and are more strict inside the classroom. These university-like courses are more demanding and also take more of your attention and dedication in class time, however they are a lot more rewarding. Finally, universities also look out for these AP courses which gives you a better opportunity to get into a better university.

“This year I took AP calculus and AP physics. Both of this clases require a lot of my attention in class because if I get distracted I won’t understand the material that they are teaching,” explained Simon Lopera, Junior at TCS.

Outside of school

Once you finish the 8 hour day at school, you finally arrive home. Even though you are wishing to rest, it is important to first finish your homework. As a 10th grade student you would have probably finished it in about 30 minutes, but as a junior you normally need to work a minimum of an hour a day to finish the work load. Also, if you are studying for an exam from one of the more challenging classes, you will probably need more than 2 hours.

“Most of the days I study about 1 or 2 hours a day, but if I have an important exam the next day sometimes I spend more than 2 hours studying to get a good grade,” said TCS junior Juan Pablo Gomez.

As a junior student having a social life is also a major part which is why balancing time is a important skill you are going to learn during this year. This is one if the last years you are going to have while you are in school before graduation, so work is not the only focus for a positive experience.

“I try to do all of my work during weekdays, so I can have the weekend to go out with my friends. Even though school is important, I also really like to go out and enjoy,” explained Uribe.

As a whole, junior year is incredible. it is a time where you get to learn a lot not only in school but also outside of it. Inside school you get the chance to make it more interesting with the option to pick an elective that you enjoy and students can challenge themselves by picking multiple AP courses. At the end of the day is a year full of options and you can experience it however you like.

“The end of 11 grade is actually bitter sweet. I mean you are closer than ever to being a senior, which is nostalgic. But at the same time, it’s been an incredibly challenging year; I think I’ve never been tested before in so many ways. However, I’m glad it’s finally coming to an end,” expressed junior Manuela Betancourt.